Random Sign near Price Lake

[jcocci]

Went for a hike up to Price Lake yesterday and ran across an old sign in the woods. It appears to be a headstone of sort, it was in the form of a cross and had the name (I assume it was a name) Rimas Gylys on it and two dates 1958 and 1984. The sign has definitely been there for a while. Wondering if anyone has run into this sign before on your way to Price Lake area and knew anything about it. I tried looking on the internet but wasn't able to find anything. Thanks.

[AlpineK]

I was at Price Lake around 1984. We ran into a group searching for 2 climbers in their group. The two while climbing on the N Ridge were hit by avalanche/serac fall. The group looked for their friends and down climbed/rappelled from the N ridge to Price Lake.

 

After talking to the folks who thought we were search and rescue and observing conditions we ditched our plans for the Price Glacier.

 

We sat and watched the real search and rescue help the survivors out. They flew helicopters around the cliffs above Price Lake.

 

Months later I heard they snagged the bodies of the two fellows. I don't remember names.

[jcocci]

Hmm, that sounds like it could be it. Here is a photo os the sign.

 

 

 

[AlpineK]

I've thought a little more about the event I remember. I believe it was June. Rapid warm weather led to a lot of slides.

 

Helicopters we saw hovered near gullies leading down to Price Lake. Due to safety issues they couldn't spend much time. It ended up being months later before they spotted the remains of the two climbers.

[jcocci]

If it was indeed 1984 when you were up there it could very well be. This sign was in a pretty random place (I'd say maybe around half up from the river crossing to the lake, maybe a little higher). Only saw it because the guy I was hiking with went a different way than I did and yelled to me that he saw it otherwise we would've never seen it. If it related to that I wonder if those are the last names of the two climbers and they were the same age or maybe its something completely unrelated.

[G-spotter]

I believe Rimas Gylys was from Vancouver?

[AlpineK]

I was trying to remember if the event I saw was in '83. In any case the folks I saw were not from BC.

[G-spotter]

If I remember correctly he was a climber of Lithuanian descent who was killed in an accident

[Skeezix]

I know a little bit about that double fatality in 1984, as I helped recover the two victims from the base of the gully above the Price Glacier. They were killed by an avalanche high on the mountain, but their bodies were swept down the mountain by winter climax avalanches. Bill Lester knew where the accident occured, so on every occasion when he was flying in the area, he flew over the gully to see if the victims' bodies had melted out. Eventually he spotted them in mid-summer. It was my first summer working in NOCA. Four of us flew in and spent the night near Price Lake, and in the morning we climbed up and recovered the bodies and flew them out. I did not know the names of the victims. ...It's kind of cool that someone went to the trouble to place the sign there as a memorial, although if it's inside the park boundary it's illegal.